Trump aide defends, downplays birther focus

An aide to Donald Trump is defending his boss for releasing an unofficial hospital record he claimed was a birth certificate, while also seeking to distance the real estate mogul from the so-called birther movement he's repeatedly whipped up in recent days.

The aide, Michael Cohen, says Trump will focus on "more important" issues if he runs for president next year.

Cohen told CBS that what Trump released was clearly "something that his parents had given him years and years ago and he obviously just had it put away."

He said that Trump is "not yet" president, adding: "If he is asked to produce a raised seal New York City Department of Health birth certificate, I'm pretty sure he can have one in as quick a period of time as you can go down and get it. ... I don't think anyone's going to question whether Donald Trump is or was not born in New York,"

Cohen said, and added that while New York hospitals bear the Trump name, only hospitals in Ghana have Obama's name. "It's a little bit odd."

The developer is "not part of this birther movement, he's just an individual that is questioning," Cohen told CBS.

Cohen didn't respond to a POLITICO request for further comment.

"What he is is a person who demands transparency, which is what the president's platform was all about when he decided to run," Cohen told CBS. "If you want to kill the comments, and you want to stop the chitter chatter about it, just show your birth certificate."

Yet he significantly downplayed the "birther" issue and its importance to Trump, saying, "there are many more issues of consequence that Mr. Trump will be talking about if he elects to run in June, issues that are more important to this country's future."